Adopted in 2015 by all United Nations (UN) members, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a global agenda for making the world a better place by 2030. They are described by the UN as a ‘shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet‘, and goals are to be achieved by all countries, in global partnership, by 2030.
This page provides a selection of visualisations on global and regional trends for Sustainable Development Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
The visualisations use the latest official data from the United Nations SDG Global Database.
Target 9.1
Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all
Indicators:
| 9.1.1 | Proportion of the rural population who live within 2 km of an all-season road |
| 9.1.2 | Passenger and freight volumes, by mode of transport |
No data is available at the global or regional level for indicator 9.1.1.
For the second indicator on passenger and freight volumes, data is available at a global and regional level up until 2020 from the UN SDG database. This section will be expanded once more recent data is available that to a larger extent captures how transport has been impacted by the pandemic.
Target 9.2
Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 2030, significantly raise industry’s share of employment and gross domestic product, in line with national circumstances, and double its share in least developed countries
Indicators:
| 9.2.1 | Manufacturing value added as a proportion of GDP and per capita |
| 9.2.2 | Manufacturing employment as a proportion of total employment |
The share of manufacturing in employment and GDP is highly dependent on national circumstances and there is no set target level in the SDG framework. To gauge the development of the manufacturing sector, it is more informative to look at the sector’s value added per capita.
At a global level, this has increased by 12% since 2015. The increase has been driven by increases in manufacturing value added per capita in Europe and Northern America as well as Eastern and South-Eastern Asia.
Target 9.3
Increase the access of small-scale industrial and other enterprises, in particular in developing countries, to financial services, including affordable credit, and their integration into value chains and markets
Indicators:
| 9.3.1 | Proportion of small-scale industries in total industry value added |
| 9.3.2 | Proportion of small-scale industries with a loan or line of credit |
No data is available at a global or regional level for indicator 9.3.1.
Globally, one-third of small-scale industries have a loan or a line of credit (indicator 9.3.2), based on latest avaliable survey data. The share with access to credit is lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the latest survey data showed that only 16% had a loan or a line of credit.
Target 9.4
By 2030, upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes, with all countries taking action in accordance with their respective capabilities
Indicators:
| 9.4.1 | CO2 emission per unit of value added |
Global CO2 emissions in the manufacturing sector (in kg per value added) have decreased steadily over the past decade, and stood at 0.43 Kg CO2 emissions per manufacturing value added in 2019.
Regional data from 2019 (the latest year available) shows that emissions decreased in all regions except Oceania when compared to 2015 levels. The data also shows the large variations across regions, with emission levels almost 6 to 7 times larger in Oceania and Central and Southern Asia than in Europe and Northern America.
Target 9.5
Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of industrial sectors in all countries, in particular developing countries, including, by 2030, encouraging innovation and substantially increasing the number of research and development workers per 1 million people and public and private research and development spending
Indicators:
| 9.5.1 | Research and development expenditure as a proportion of GDP |
| 9.5.1 | Researchers (in full-time equivalent) per million inhabitants |
Government spending on research and development (R&D) as a share of GDP has seen an increase since 2015 globally from 1.69% to 1.93% in 2020. No numerical target is set for 2030 for this indicator.
R&D spending was highest in Europe and Northern America and Eastern and Sout-Eastern Asia. Since 2015 both these regions have seen their R&D spending shares increase. In the three SDG regions with the lowest shares, the R&D shares either declined (Latin America and the Caribbean) or stood still between 2015 and 2020 (Central and Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa).
The second indicator in this target aims to substantially increase the number of researchers (measured as the number of researchers per million inhabitants). While no numerical target for 2030 is set, there is a clear trend of increasing researcher density at the global level over the past two decades.
Since 2015, except for a minor decrease in Australia and New Zealand, all researcher density has increased in all SDG regions.
Target 9.a
Facilitate sustainable and resilient infrastructure development in developing countries through enhanced financial, technological and technical support to African countries, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States
Indicators:
| 9.a.1 | Total official international support (official development assistance plus other official flows) to infrastructure |
The target sets out a commitment to increase support to developing countries for sustainable infrastructure, however there is no set numerical target.
OECD data shows that total aid for infrastructure has increased over recent years in absolute terms and stood at 63 billion USD in 2020.
Target 9.b
Support domestic technology development, research and innovation in developing countries, including by ensuring a conducive policy environment for, inter alia, industrial diversification and value addition to commodities
Indicators:
| 9.b.1 | Proportion of medium and high-tech industry value added in total value added |
There is no set target level for 2030 at the global or national level for this indicator. The latest available data from 2019 shows that on average worldwide, medium and high-tech industry contributed 45% to total value added globally.
Target 9.c
Significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020
Indicators:
| 9.c.1 | Proportion of population covered by a mobile network, by technology |
Mobile network coverage has expanded rapidly over the past two decades. As of 2020, the vast majority of the world population has access to high-speed mobile networks. 4G technology has gone from 33% to 85% global coverage rate in just 6 years (no data is yet available on 5G from the SDG global indicator database).
Importantly, there are still access gaps, with for example Sub-Saharan Africa having significantly lower coverage rates of 3G and 4G mobile networks.
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About the data
The data presented on global and regional trends are from the UN SDG Global Database.
Changelog
- First release November 2022